Smart apps to digitise your business

12 February 2019

The self-assessment tax return deadline has just passed and there are not many people that enjoyed getting their paperwork organised for their tax return. It can be stressful when your paperwork is all over the place and you could miss out on tax deductions.

Fear not, there is a way to avoid the hassle of tax returns next January! We’ve looked into the best apps that will keep all your information in one place and help you prepare for MTD.

Receipt Bank

…is one of those apps. You can take a photo of your receipt with your phone and then dispose of your receipt immediately. Receipt Bank then takes information from the receipt and publishes it to Xero. It means you won’t miss out on claiming back VAT on any expenses.

There are many apps designed specifically for use in a particular industry. These apps may answer questions you have about your sales, for example:

What are my best-selling/worst selling products?

What time of the day/year are my sales the highest?

Apps can monitor your sales and automatically send the information to Xero. This means you spend less time getting information together for your tax and VAT returns. Below I have briefly described some of these sector-specific apps.

Figured – farming

This app makes life easy for farmers. It reduces the amount of paperwork they need to keep. The app keeps details of expenses, income, livestock, milk yields and other information all in one place. It can also be used to forecast profits taking into consideration factors like milk pay-out or livestock purchases. These forecasts can be amended according to variables such as changes in the price of milk. It makes it easier to access loans as it will give the bank a better understanding of your business.

iZettle Pro – hospitality

There are many POS apps like iZettle Pro designed specifically for restaurants, cafes and bars. These apps enable businesses to complete the following tasks:

Split the bill between customers;

Provide customer loyalty schemes by storing email addresses so you can reward loyal customers with discounts or special offers;

Inventory management including alerts for low stock; and

Employee management- what hours they are working and what they are selling.

Simple Salon – salons

Salon booking software such as the Simple Salon app acts as your personal assistant. Simple Salon can send automatic SMS reminders and when clients reply with the word ‘yes’ the letter C will automatically appear on their appointments, so you know they have confirmed the appointment. The app also facilities an online booking system and has a comprehensive dashboard indicating how staff and the salon are performing according to your chosen metrics.